


Man and Monster

by onthewaters



Category: Van Helsing (2004)
Genre: Canon Backstory, M/M, Seduction, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, good and evil are relative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-25
Updated: 2013-05-25
Packaged: 2017-12-12 22:35:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/816837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onthewaters/pseuds/onthewaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He who hunts monsters is destined to become one, they say. What they don't say is that he has to have help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man and Monster

**Author's Note:**

> ***
> 
> If you consider posting this work to Goodreads: Please do not do it. These stories are fanfiction, and I don't want them near a site that's primarily for published original fiction.
> 
> While I appreciate that you might enjoy having them on your Goodreads shelves, please respect my wishes.
> 
> Thank you.

He’d been so young. The son of a great knight, and soon to be a knight in his own right. But still he’d been young and easily impressed. He fought the monsters of the forest and the mountains and felt pleased by their deaths. His father chastised him for that, saying that he wasn’t meant to enjoy killing, that it was only necessity. But Vlad never crossed himself when the blood of the creatures stained his hands. 

It was winter when Gabriel came. 

They knew little of him. He did not die, he was sent by the Lord, and he hunted monsters, that was all the family priest could tell them. Valerious himself welcomed him for the mark of The Lord that was upon him, and invited him to his table. Vlad listened as Gabriel and Valerious spoke of the places the man of the Lord had been, and of the things he’d done, and he felt a stirring that left him shaken and wondering at this strange man, this immortal power harnessed and guided in the name of the Lord. 

When Gabriel looked up at him over his goblet and smiled, Vlad felt the smile right down to his bones and buried his whimper in his own goblet. Valerious frowned and again captured Gabriel’s attention. Vlad sat silently for the rest of the meal, trying not to make a fool of himself, and avoiding Gabriel’s eyes. But still he shivered whenever he felt the gaze of those powerful eyes upon him. 

Gabriel stayed. Valerious was well-pleased and went out with him on the hunt for the creatures that haunted the nights. They returned just before dawn usually, to sleep and rest for the next night’s hunt. Vlad’s own hunting was ignored, and the blood on his hands was all that kept him in the mountains when he could have been in bed asleep. In the evenings, Gabriel and Valerious sat together after their dinner and considered strategies and ways to make life difficult for the monsters. Occasionally, Valerious would permit his son to join them but not speak; and these evenings were painful to Vlad, for he could feel Gabriel’s eyes resting on him thoughout, and the weight of their gaze pressed him down into the chair and left him as immobile as rock. But he was not rock nor stone, but flesh and felt his flesh awaken under those eyes, and had to find excuses to leave before his father noticed and cast him out for his unnatural feelings.

He took to spending his nights down in the village, finding the young women working at the inn willing and warm, inclined to spend their nights by his side. His father hardly noticed, and when he did, he put it down to a young man’s wild time, not to his visitor’s effect. Vlad felt relieved, and revelled in the women, and if he felt a lack, he never showed it to them. It was only when he was in Gabriel’s presence, that he felt close to that missing piece, the powerful draw the man of the Lord had on him. But the women were warm, and their bodies soft and pliant, and he thought of them instead and was able to bear it better.

Gabriel stayed all through winter. 

By the time winter gathered its icy cold for the final assault on the world, Vlad had given up hunting monsters completely. Valerious began to realize this weeks after Vlad’s last hunt, and brought down his wrath on Vlad. They were the great family of Valerious, he shouted at his son, and not worthless rakes hiding behind the women’s skirts! 

Vlad returned to hunting, forbidden the village with its drink and women, but his heart wasn’t in it. He didn’t put the effort into it that he had before, and after the monster was dead, the blood on his hands felt simply wet and sticky. The joy had gone out of it for him, and he craved the women’s touches and their soft heat. 

Weeks passed again as Vlad did his duty with a heavy heart, beginning to hate it. His body was returning to the point where a single look from Gabriel could set him afire, and no amount of hunting, of fighting could alleviate this affliction. He burned for Gabriel, and could not cool himself in the arms of another. Valerious was oblivious as always.

But he watched him still, wanting to make sure that Vlad hunted monsters, not women. 

Pressure needs release, and Vlad could not endure Gabriel’s eyes any longer. He left the castle in his hunting gear, but went into the village, desperate for a woman’s touch, any woman would have done, just so long as she could make him forget Gabriel for only an hour or two. The servant who followed him informed Valerious.

Before Vlad had the chance to do more than open the girl’s blouse, Valerious burst in and pulled his son off the bed, slapped him, and dragged him back to the castle and the study, where Gabriel sat and read. Valerious ranted and raved for half an hour, begged the Lord for a worthier son, and for help with the useless fornicating son he had. Vlad stood in silent agony, for his body knew that Gabriel was there, it knew Gabriel’s scent and it was at a fever pitch. That his father should berate him with Gabriel there was incomprehensible to Vlad, and that he had to just stand there and take it was the scratch of a werewolf’s nails on stone. 

Valerious took long to wind down, and finally made his decree. Vlad was to get back out and do his holy duty, and just to make sure he did it, Gabriel was to go with him. 

Gabriel simply raised his eyebrow at the dressing-down Vlad received, and smiled knowingly, almost indulgently. Vlad felt his chest contract as he realized that Gabriel knew, had known all along. He could no longer hear what his father was saying, could only look at that easy smile, and the amused eyes, and felt his entire world reduced to Gabriel, to Gabriel’s eyes, and the strong hand that gripped his shoulder – the first time that Gabriel touched him! He dimly heard the voice, Gabriel’s voice, tell his father that it was too late to hunt now and that he would take Vlad out the next night, and that it would be best if Vlad got some sleep before that. That the lecture had been well-deserved, but that now it was time to go forward. Valerious agreed grudgingly and sent Vlad off to bed.

Vlad staggered to his room in a daze, his shoulder alight with Gabriel’s touch, and his nose full of Gabriel’s scent, of the leather he wore and the clean sweat, and he fell into bed whimpering, burning.

When he got down the next evening, Gabriel was waiting for him. 

Valerious sent them off into the night, and Gabriel led the way, allowing Vlad to watch him without being looked at himself, and his body screamed at him again. It was the first time he’d ever been alone with Gabriel, even for just a moment, and he knew that this time he would shatter, that he would not be able to stand this torment, this agony of desire, for desire was what it was and he couldn’t control it. It had been too long since he’d had a woman, and his body, his traitorous body wouldn’t be denied now, not with what it craved right in front of him. 

Gabriel’s closeness drew him like a fire drew moths, and he found himself drawing closer and closer, until he could almost touch him, but not quite. He already raised his hand, not knowing if he would dare touch, but unable to stay away, when the beast attacked.

It was black and furious, not wolf, not man, not anything; Vlad never did know what exactly they fought there, but it was as if his body had acquired an additional sense, for he knew where Gabriel was, he knew what Gabriel was doing, and he knew, he could feel him, he could feel the monster, and he felt it when his dagger finally found the lung and the breath came whistling out of it, and it died quietly. Vlad stood gasping, not a drop of blood on him, but body roaring with the hunt’s excitement. Gabriel was next to him, and he hadn’t been spared the blood. It covered his face and hands and torso, and Vlad bit his tongue against the urge to lick it off him. 

Gabriel wasn’t even breathing hard. He simply considered the monster, then looked at Vlad, smiled at Vlad, and Vlad was lost, lost in the desire and the blood, and he wanted to sink to his knees, and bury his face in Gabriel. 

Some of this must have appeared in his face, and Gabriel smiled, but smiled differently, a wicked smile, and he reached out his bloody hand to cup Vlad’s face. 

“Is that how it is, then?”

Vlad whimpered but couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, not even when Gabriel’s thumb traced his lips, which parted of their own accord, and blood-taste exploded on his tongue, Gabriel’s thumb running over his teeth. He licked it, without knowing he would, and sucked it, earning a smile from Gabriel. He felt in heaven.

“Well then,” Gabriel whispered, eyes promising so much, “Lie you down.” He pulled Vlad close to him, them pushed him down on the snow, following, touching him, lying down on top of him. His hands cupped Vlad’s face, and he kissed him deeply, rocking against him, warm, warm, finally the warmth Vlad had been searching for so long. 

“Yes,” Vlad whispered, “yes, oh yes, please.”

Gabriel laughed softly, and unbuttoned his coat, unlaced his shirt and his trousers. Vlad gasped as cold air rushed against heated, burning skin, and shrieked when Gabriel’s lips fastened on his nipples, Gabriel’s tongue licking his exposed skin, and tried to lift his arms to hold him, but Gabriel shook his head, his hands trailing blood on Vlad’s chest, then lower, lifting him up slightly so his breeches could be pulled down and Vlad felt his hips and buttocks come to rest on the chilly wool of his cloak, but that was still rather better than the snow would have been.

Gabriel knelt between his legs, looked down on him, wonderingly, and flicked a fingertip against Vlad’s excitement. Vlad whimpered, and bit his lip, not wanting to beg, but not sure if he could stop himself from it. Gabriel smiled, and opened his own trousers. Vlad’s body cried out at the sight of Gabriel’s manhood, ready and waiting. Gabriel smiled, and seeing that he had Vlad’s attention, he lifted his hand, still covered in the blood of the dead beast lying two feet away from them, and he ran it down from Vlad’s manhood, then further down between his buttocks, and to the opening there, tickling it. 

Sodomy, if anyone knew, he’d be burned at the stake! But his body was telling him that it couldn’t stop now, couldn’t do the smart thing, that he’d denied it for too long and that it would have this now, now, and without delay. Vlad whimpered, and felt invaded, and his body was crying out for more.

“Open your eyes,” said Gabriel. Vlad hadn’t realized he’d had them closed. But he opened them, and saw Gabriel’s face, and felt the fingers in him twist and turn. White fire danced through his body, and he screamed as it seared him, and Gabriel laughed, a sound so pure in delight and Vlad felt tears come to his eyes. 

Then the fingers left him empty and he shook his head, but Gabriel kissed him again, and kept kissing him as his hardness breached him, opened him, and the pain was just as crippling as the pleasure had been. He screamed into Gabriel’s mouth as he was filled to overflowing, and the pain peaked. Gabriel’s tongue was in his mouth, his teeth were worrying his lips, and finally it stopped hurting quite so much, and then Gabriel began to move. Vlad bucked under Gabriel as again the white fire was sparked, and again, and for the last time, engulfing everything until all he could see was white. 

When it was over, Gabriel’s weight rested on him and the pressure was still present in him. And after this eternity of wanting, his body was finally at rest. He lay still, contentedly, and felt that he might lie here like this forever.

At length, Gabriel lifted himself up and smiled down at him. Vlad felt an answering smilde tug at the corners of his mouth, then Gabriel pulled out of him and stood up. He reached a hand down to help Vlad in getting to his feet, then stroked his face again. “Fix your clothes.”

Vlad did, now feeling a soreness. So, virginity was lost once again, and what a glorious death it had had. Gabriel smiled again, as if he knew what Vlad was thinking. 

They returned to the castle, and Valerious was pleased to see Vlad hunting once more. But Gabriel smiled again wickedly, and told him that he was teaching Vlad, and that there would be more such hunts. Vlad felt his face burn, but Valerious said nothing against the plan, merely sent him off to bed.

They went out again the next night, and Gabriel took him against a tree, Vlad’s legs wrapped around him and quivering. The night after that, having deemed Vlad too sore to play at sodomites, Gabriel taught him how to give pleasure with his mouth and hands. Night blurred into night, and Vlad was introduced to more ways of fornicating than he had ever dreamed of. Valerious was never the wiser, not even when Gabriel came to Vlad’s room to take him on a bed. 

But as spring turned into summer, Gabriel became somber, colder. Vlad feared that it was that he had to leave, and secretly entertained notions of going with him – not that Valerious would ever let him go. But he dreamed, and dreamed of Gabriel.

On Midsummer Night, Gabriel was changed again, gentle, and soft with Vlad. He took him to the ruins of an ancient chapel and undressed him completely, kissing each bit of skin as it appeared under cloth and leather. Vlad lay happily, bloodstained and still thrilled with the kill, as Gabriel entered him and made love to him so slowly, so wonderfully that he could hardly bear it.

Vlad understood that it meant goodbye.

Gabriel left with dawn, and Vlad returned to the hunt. Old Valerious was pleased enough and left him to his devices. It was as if Gabriel’s touch had given Vlad’s body a calmness he hadn’t had before, and it no longer cried out for Gabriel’s touch, or that of the women. So Vlad hunted for the blood on his hands and the taste of victory.

He was good. Better, in fact, than his father, who took these news with insult and pride both. Soon enough, Vlad earned his own sobriquet – Dracula. He laughed for days when he was told what the villagers called him – the slayer of monsters, named for a dragon! Valerious was proud again and gave him a signet to go along with his new name, a winged serpent. Vlad was amused at his father’s foolishness. Valerious never realized that the people called Vlad a dragon not because he hunted dragons, but because he seemed to be a dragon himself, furious when roused, a danger to man and beast.

The years passed, and Valerious married again, even siring another son. Vlad minded little. His life was the hunt and the blood, and he was well content to see his fortieth year on the horizon, and imagined he would kill monsters until the day he died. 

Two days before Midsummer, twenty years after he had left, Gabriel returned.

Valerious, over sixty now, welcomed him again, introduced his wife and his younger son, who was all of twelve years old. Gabriel spoke kindly to woman and boy, but his eyes went to Vlad, and Vlad found that even twenty years were not enough to starve the burning in his blood and under Gabriel’s gaze, Vlad felt a boy again and burned.

Valerious and Gabriel talked, and Vlad listened. Once again, Gabriel had come to hunt a monster, a mighty dragon which drank blood and flew on wings like a bat’s. Valerious took the news seriously, and sent Vlad out to search for the monster. Gabriel said merely that he already knew where it was, and asked if Vlad would come with him. Vlad agreed.

Gabriel again led him to the ruins, and made love to him once more. There had never been many words between them, and there weren’t now. Vlad gave himself over to his Gabriel, and felt so raw, so open, as if Gabriel knew everything about him, and loved him yet. Pleasure, which hadn’t interested him for twenty years, reared its head again, alive and joyous, and Vlad thought that the only thing that could make this even better, would be if they had shared a kill before, and laughingly, he kissed Gabriel and showed him his ring.

“You’ve caught a dragon, Gabriel, you’ve caught me!”

Gabriel kissed him silent, kissed his eyelids, and brought him the pleasure he so long hadn’t known. And in the midst of ecstasy, Vlad felt a sharp pain next to his heart and opened his eyes to see the hilt of Gabriel’s dagger in his chest and just a trickle of blood, then Gabriel’s face wet with tears, and then words, softly.

“I will never forget you.” 

Vlad felt his ring being pulled off his finger, and Gabriel kissed him again. And the world went away.

Betrayed, Vlad died. He spoke to a man dressed in black leather with white hair, who offered him a bargain. Life eternal for drinking the blood of innocents. He took it, betrayed.

His father was appalled when he returned, aged with death, and even more with the betrayal. Vlad hadn’t expected a warm welcome, but neither had he imagined that he would be banished to an icy fortress. The white-haired man visited, and kissed his forehead. 

And the line of Valerious had a new kind of monster to hunt. 

 

End.


End file.
